That’s because it is entirely reasonable to want to watch the intro sometimes, while it is never reasonable to want to watch ads.
On Netflix it’s just the intro to the show. On YouTube it’s ads. Big difference
I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, but “just” the intro to a show is still an ad.
I absolutely hate ads and I hate “intros” to shows. They are one and the same. I don’t care if I have the option to tap a button to skip the intro (some services don’t even allow this), end of day is I literally pay for “ad-free” content on these services and they still manage to mess that up.
I’m open to hearing why people are ok with these intros while not ok with normal ads.
Because it’s part of the show? What is it advertising? Usually there are some amount of credits. Certainly not ads.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the post. I was under the impression that they are talking about intros/ads to other shows on the same service.
Example: I start a brand new show and I’m immediately hit with an ad for another show on the same service, before I can watch the show I actually selected.
The intro is the opening sequence of the show. People usually watch that on the first episode, but if you’re binge-watching a show you don’t want to keep seeing the intro over and over again for each episode.
Are you taking about previews? Yes, those are ads. The intro to a show that is the same every episode, those aren’t ads, but are skipable.
Yes, the previews. Sorry, I misread.
Even worse are the self promoting ads on platforms that claim to not have ads; such as Apple TV, HBO, and the like.
Right? “Oh here’s an ad of our service that you are already subscribed to and actively using right now”.
“These ads are also immune to buying an ad free tier.”
Now with Ad Nauseum™
With HBO, it’s usually an ad for another one of their shows, rather than an ad for the thing you’re already subscribed to. I’m okay with that, even though I usually skip the ads anyway.
Because on Netflix what you’re skipping is something you expect and maybe even want to see. On YouTube it’s ads, which you don’t necessarily expect nor want to see. And the skip button is just associated with that.
Also, on YouTube you sometimes have to skip multiple consecutive ads, sometimes you have to wait for a few seconds, and sometimes you can’t skip them at all. It’s not made to be practical, it’s made to serve you as much ad-time as possible, as that is the bread and butter for YouTube (contrary to popular belief they don’t make a lot of money, so it makes sense. Although I’m not sure I like they way they try to make money to stay in business).
If I’m not wrong:
Netflix: skip intro has a keyboard shortcut “s”
YouTube: skip ad does not have keyboard shortcut
Sometimes, I like the intro. The music, the visuals, sometimes they get you in the mood for the show. Sometimes, I just want to get on with the show. I appreciate having a choice.
I never want to watch advertisments.
And some shows have a slightly different intro for each episode, which might make you want to watch it every time.
Adding the cue marks for the skip intro takes actual effort to set up correctly
Why doesn’t Netflix have an option to always skip intros? Why do I have to hit it every time? Are there people that love watching the intro?
Not Netflix, but some shows have amazing intros that change every episode, like GoT.
Hell the intro was the most interesting part of the first 95% of the first episode (the last two minutes totally made up for it though).
Some shows put unique gags in each intro, like Simpsons.
Watching the Simpsons in the 90s… Live, no streaming, no recordings. If I missed that intro my week was ruined.
I think they use that to help track whether you’re watching or not (I don’t recall ever seeing the “are you still watching?” prompt when skipping intros… but my sample size is 1)
Show the still watching prompt, auto skip the intros. That is one action every few hours vs one action every half hour.
If only I could install an extension to auto skip when I am watching on my TV and not any of the other things I have that can use an adblocker.
